Increasingly, digital video distribution systems are used to deliver video programming to end-users. Today, many digital video distribution systems (e.g., distribution systems that may utilize cable, satellite, cellular, fiber, Ethernet, and various other transmission technologies) distribute thousands, if not millions, of video programs per year. Typically, digital video distribution systems transmit video information in discrete chunks (e.g., packets) that may be assembled into video programming upon receipt by a user's digital video display device. To identify particular video information (i.e., a “program”) associated with the discrete chunks, as well as to distinguish one program from another program, digital video distribution systems typically transmit a unique identifier (e.g., a program ID or PID). With the advent of digital video recording technology, devices such as digital video recorders (DVRs) regularly may use the unique identifier for displaying programs in an electronic program guide (EPG) and scheduling video recording events of a specific program. In addition to a unique program identifier, many digital video distribution systems also transmit and/or utilize time information associated with a program, including but not limited to a program start time, a program end time, the duration or length (e.g., in seconds) and/or the size (e.g., in bytes) of a program. DVRs and other digital video recording devices may use the time information to schedule recording events.
In many cases, however, the time information that is associated with a program may be imprecise. In some cases, a start time associated with a program may identify the start of a commercial advertisement (i.e., “commercial”) that precedes the program, instead of the start time of the program itself. In other cases, a start time associated with a program may identify a time associated with an EPG (e.g., an hourly time) rather than the program itself. For example, in the case of an EPG displaying only hour-long program intervals, a start time may indicate that an EPG program begins at 9:00 pm although the program itself may not begin until 9:05 pm. In other cases, the actual duration of some programs (e.g., live programming) may extend beyond the scheduled duration of the program (e.g., as scheduled in an EPG). In other cases, programs that end earlier than their scheduled end time may include commercials or even a portion of a subsequent program prior to the next scheduled program start time.
When time information is imprecise, users wishing to start a program may become frustrated when the scheduled start time of a program or the start time of a recording of the program do not correspond to the actual start time of the program. For example, a user may become frustrated by having to watch commercials preceding a scheduled program and/or a last portion of a program preceding a scheduled program. As another example, a user may also become frustrated when a scheduled program lasts longer or shorter than its scheduled duration, and the user sees more or less of the program, respectively, than the user would like to see.